Applied Materials, Inc.

Blake Erickson

Zhaozhao Zhu

Keith R Berding

Upendra V Ummethala

Michael C Kutney

Patrick John Tae

Philip Allan Kraus

Devendra Channappa Holeyannavar

Steven Trey Tindel

Prashanth Kumar

Sivasankar Nagarajan

Shivaraj Manjunath Nara

Dhirendra Kumar

Anandakumar Parameshwarappa

Michael D Willwerth

Soumendra N Barman

Chunlei Zhang

Michelle SanPedro

Jeffrey Ludwig

Varoujan Chakarian

Tsung Feng Wu

Sidharth Bhatia

Jeffrey Yat Shan Au

Barry Craver

Joshua Maher

Suresh Polali Narayana Rao

An article, apparatus, and method for detecting an etch rate uniformity in a processing chamber of an electronics processing system is provided. A device is placed in a processing chamber of an electronics processing system. The device includes a first layer deposited on a surface of the device and a second layer deposited on the first layer. The first layer is composed of a first sense material and the second layer is composed of an etch material. During an etch process at the processing chamber, a first amount of time from an initiation of the etch process to a detection of a first indication of completion of etching of the second layer at a first portion of the surface of the device is measured. The etch process etches the second layer of the device based on an initial set of etch parameter settings. A first etch rate of the processing chamber is determined based on the measured first amount of time and a thickness of the second layer. An optimized set of etch parameter settings to be applied at the processing chamber during subsequent etch processes is determined based on the first etch rate of the processing chamber.

In-situ etch rate and etch rate uniformity detection system

A method includes receiving, by a processing device, first sensor data indicating a state of a wall corresponding to a first processing chamber. The first sensor data includes optical spectral data. The method further includes determining, by the processing device, a first value based on the first sensor data. The first value corresponds to a first amount of a product disposed along a surface of the wall at a first time. The method further includes determining, by the processing device, a first update to a first process operation associated with the first processing chamber based on the first value. The method further includes performing, by the processing device, one or more of (i) preparing a notification indicating the first update for presentation on a graphical user interface (GUI), or (ii) causing performance of the first process operation in accordance with the first update.

Process characterization and correction using optical wall process sensor (OWPS)

Implementations disclosed describe a system including a light source, an optical sensor, and a processing device. The light source directs, during a first time, a probe light into a processing chamber through a window. The light source ceases, during a second time, directing the probe light into the processing chamber through the window. The optical sensor detects, during the first time, a first intensity of a first light. The first light includes a portion of the probe light reflected from the window and a light transmitted from an environment of the processing chamber through the window. The optical sensor detects, during the second time, a second intensity of a second light. The second light includes the light transmitted from the environment of the processing chamber through the window. The processing device determines, using the first intensity and the second intensity, a transmission coefficient of the window.

Transmission corrected plasma emission using in-situ optical reflectometry

Embodiments disclosed herein include a diagnostic substrate, comprising a baseplate, and a first plurality of image sensors on the baseplate, where the first plurality of image sensors are oriented horizontal to the baseplate. In an embodiment, the diagnostic substrate further comprises a second plurality of image sensors on the baseplate, where the second plurality of image sensors are oriented at a non-orthogonal angle to the baseplate. In an embodiment, the diagnostic substrate further comprises a printed circuit board (PCB) on the baseplate, and a controller on the baseplate, where the controller is communicatively coupled to the first plurality of image sensors and the second plurality of image sensors by the PCB. In an embodiment, the diagnostic substrate further comprises a diffuser lid over the baseplate, the PCB, and the controller.

Smart camera substrate

An apparatus includes a base component and a plurality of collimators housed within the base component. Each collimator of the plurality of collimators corresponds to a respective location of a plurality of locations of a wafer in an etch chamber. The plurality of locations includes a center location of the wafer, a plurality of inner ring locations along an inner ring of the wafer associated with a first set of radially symmetric optical emission spectroscopy (OES) signal sampling paths, and a plurality of outer ring locations along an outer ring of the wafer associated with a second set of radially symmetric OES signal sampling paths.

Spatial optical emission spectroscopy for etch uniformity

A method for a substrate measurement subsystem is provided. An indication is received that a substrate being processed at a manufacturing system has been loaded into a substrate measurement subsystem. First positional data of the substrate within the substrate measurement subsystem is determined. One or more portions of the substrate to be measured by one or more sensing components of the substrate measurement subsystem are determined based on the first positional data of the substrate and a process recipe for the substrate. Measurements of each of the determined portions of the substrate are obtained by one or more sensing components of the substrate measurement subsystem. The obtained measurements of each of the determined portions of the substrate are transmitted to a system controller.

Substrate measurement subsystem

A process recipe associated with a substrate at a manufacturing system is identified. A first set of measurements for the substrate is obtained from a substrate measurement subsystem. A second set of measurements for the substrate is obtained from one or more sensors of a chamber of the manufacturing system. A determination is made based on the obtained first set of measurements and the obtained second set of measurements of whether to modify the process recipe by at least one of modifying an operation of the process recipe or generating an instruction to prevent completion of execution of one or more operations of the process recipe.

Integrated substrate measurement system to improve manufacturing process performance

The disclosure describes apparatus and method for detecting an endpoint in plasma-assisted wafer processing in a chamber. A fiber array comprising a plurality of fibers collects optical emission light from the chamber during the plasma-assisted wafer processing. The fiber array is split into two or more groups of fibers, each group carrying a portion of the light to a segment of a photodetector. Each segment of photodetector has a corresponding narrowband optical filter designed for a specific range of wavelengths. A computer processor analyzes detected signals from the plurality of segments of the photodetector, and determines, based on the analysis of the detected signals, an endpoint of the plasma-assisted wafer processing as indicated by the presence or the absence of the one or more chemical species in the chamber. The photodetector can be based on photomultiplier tube (PMT) array or based on photodiodes (e.g., avalanche photodiodes (APDs)).

Low open area and coupon endpoint detection

A system includes a transparent crystal, at least part of which is embedded within a wall and a liner of a processing chamber. The transparent crystal has a proximal end and a distal end, the distal end having a distal surface exposed to an interior of the processing chamber. A transparent thin film is deposited on the distal surface and has chemical properties substantially matching those of the liner. A light coupling device is to: transmit light, from a light source, through the proximal end of the transparent crystal, and focus, into a spectrometer, light received reflected back from a combination of the distal surface, a surface of the transparent thin film, and a surface of a process film layer deposited on the transparent thin film. The spectrometer is to detect a first spectrum within the focused light that is representative of the process film layer.

Thin film, in-situ measurement through transparent crystal and transparent substrate within processing chamber wall

A system includes a memory, and at least one processing device, operatively coupled to the memory, to facilitate an etch recipe development process by performing operations including obtaining, from an optical detector, first material thickness data for a first material and second material thickness data for a second material resulting from an iteration of an etch process using an etch recipe. The first material is located at a first reflectometry measurement point and the second material is located at a second reflectometry measurement point different from the first reflectometry measurement point. The operations further include determining one or more etch parameters based on at least the first material thickness data and the second material thickness data.

Multiple reflectometry for measuring etch parameters

An article, apparatus, and method for detecting an etch material selectivity is provided. A device including a first layer and a second layer is placed in a processing chamber. The first layer includes a first sense material deposited on a first portion of the device and a second sense material deposited on a second portion of the device. The second layer deposited on the first layer includes an etch material. During an etch process based on an initial set of etch parameter settings, a first amount of time to etch the second layer at the first portion of the device and a second amount of time to etch the second layer at the second portion of the device are measured. A first etch rate and a second etch rate of the processing chamber is determined based on the measured first amount of time, the measured second amount of time, and a thickness of the second layer. A first selectivity of the first etch material and a second selectivity of the second etch material is determined based on the first etch rate and the second etch rate. An optimized set of etch parameter settings for subsequent etch processes is determined based on the determined selectivities.

In-situ etch material selectivity detection system

A method for determining whether to modify a manufacturing process recipe is provided. A substrate to be processed at a manufacturing system according to the first process recipe is identified. An instruction to transfer the substrate to a substrate measurement subsystem to obtain a first set of measurements for the substrate is generated. The first set of measurements for the substrate is received from the substrate measurement subsystem. An instruction to transfer the substrate from the substrate measurement subsystem to a processing chamber is generated. A second set of measurements for the substrate is received from one or more sensors of the processing chamber. A first mapping between the first set of measurements and the second set of measurements for the substrate is generated. The first set of measurements mapped to the second set of measurements for the substrate is stored. A determination is made based on the first set of measurements mapped to the second set of measurements for the substrate of whether to modify the first process recipe or a second process recipe for the substrate.

Growing community of inventors

Gilroy, CA, United States of America

Blake Erickson